William Shakespeare
(1564–1616)

William Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest writer in English. The power and beauty of his language continue to cast a magical spell nearly four centuries after his death.

Shakespeare was born in 1564, the eldest son of a merchant in the town of Stratford-on-Avon, about 100 miles northwest of London. He probably attended the local grammar school, where Latin formed an important part of the curriculum. In 1582, he married Anne Hathaway, who was eight years his senior. Their daughter Susanna was born in 1583. Two years later, the couple became the parents of twins: a son named Hamnet and a daughter, Judith.

Shakespeare probably began his writing career after moving to London sometime in the late 1580s. Very little is known about him in these years. It seems likely that he held a theatrical apprenticeship, which at the time involved many different duties, including acting, writing, and learning about business management. The first printed reference to Shakespeare, in 1592, mentions a rival's attack on the young dramatist as an "upstart crow." By this time, Shakespeare had written and produced several history plays and had possibly written some of his early comedies. In 1593 and 1594, he published two narrative poems based on ancient Greek and Roman myths and legends: "Venus and Adonis" and "The Rape of Lucrece."

During the 1590s, Shakespeare probably wrote most of his sonnets. A sonnet is a fourteen-line lyric poem focused on a single theme. Composing series of sonnets was popular among the leading writers of the English Renaissance, such as Sir Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser. Shakespeare's collection, consisting of 154 poems, was published in 1609, without the poet's permission.

During the 1590s, Shakespeare became a leading member of the Lord Chamberlain's Men. This group, which developed into London's finest acting company, began to perform in the Globe Theater after that playhouse was constructed in 1599. Although Shakespeare continued his acting career, he is most remembered as a playwright. During this phase of his career, he wrote many of his best-known tragedies and comedies. In 1603, after the death of Queen Elizabeth I, the English throne passed to James I. The new monarch, like his predecessor, greatly enjoyed plays. James became the patron of Shakespeare's company, which changed its name to the King's Men.

In his final plays, especially The Winter's Tale and The Tempest, Shakespeare turned to another dramatic form called romance–a type of play that combined comic with tragic elements but ended happily. By 1611, when he was 47, Shakespeare had achieved substantial success as a complete man of the theater. He was able to retire comfortably to his hometown of Stratford. He died five years later in 1616. In 1623, two members of his company published Shakespeare's collected dramas. It was for this work, known as the First Folio, that Shakespeare's contemporary and rival Ben Jonson praised the playwright with the following tribute: "He was not of an age but for all time."

Orson Welles's comment that Shakespeare would have made a great movie writer reflects the fact that a Shakespearean play consists of brief scenes designed to be viewed, not just read. Possibly Welles, who was a distinguished director of both plays and films, was also referring to the phenomenal popularity of Shakespeare on screen.

Shakespeare's plays have been the basis for a remarkable number of film and television adaptations. Between 1900 and 1996, for example, there were nearly 50 film versions of Hamlet. One of the most highly acclaimed adaptations, directed by Kenneth Branagh, appeared in 1996.

Besides the sheer number of screen versions, an equally striking fact about Shakespeare on film is the playwright's universal appeal. For example, film adaptations of Romeo and Juliet have appeared in Spanish, Arabic, Hindi, French, Russian, Czech, Italian, and Portuguese. An especially popular film of the play in English, directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, was released in 1995.

Recently, the playwright himself was the subject of a lighthearted film entitled Shakespeare in Love (1998). This film, directed by John Madden and starring Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow, speculates about a love affair that may have inspired the dramatist to write Romeo and Juliet. The screenplay for the film was co-authored by noted British playwright Tom Stoppard. Shakespeare in Love won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1998.

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